Update from Dane Smith
Ambassador Molly Phee to be Assistant Secretary of State for Africa
The Biden Administration has announced the appointment of veteran diplomat, Mary Catherine (Molly) Phee as its new Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. Amb. Phee served as U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan 2015-2017, following Susan Page and preceding Thomas Hushek. After her assignment in Juba, she was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. Most recently she has been Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation. Her appointment
requires Senate confirmation. I am pleased that the senior US official for Africa will bring to her job a wealth of expertise about the region at the center of AFRECS’ interest.
Mary Catherine (Molly) Phee, newly named Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Instability in Chad has Implications for Sudan
Chad’s longtime president (since 1990) Idris Deby was killed April 19 in a military confrontation with rebels coming from Libya to overthrow him. The exact circumstances are unclear. The Chadian military quickly appointed Deby’s son Mahamat as president, although the constitution provides for succession by the head of the National Assembly. Protests led to killing of demonstrators and some reshuffling of military council leadership.
Deby’s departure is significant because Chad has since 2005 welcomed refugees from Darfur. As Senior Advisor to the US Government for Darfur, I traveled to Chad in October 2012, visited two refugee camps near the Sudan border, and met with President Deby in Chad’s capital Njamena. My objective was to encourage him to press President Bashir to reach agreement with the Darfuri rebel militias who had not signed on to the agreement negotiated in Doha the previous year. One of those groups, the Justice & Equality Movement (JEM) was largely Zaghawa, a dynamic non-Arab ethnic group spread over both Darfur and Chad. Deby was Zaghawa but his relationship with JEM leaders was uneasy. Deby told me that he had been bringing Darfuri groups to Njamena to try to get them into the Doha Agreement and had found them positively disposed. He expressed the hope that President Bashir would respond positively.
An autocrat at home, brooking no political opposition, Deby prided himself on playing a positive role in the region. He was unsuccessful with Bashir, who had concluded an agreement with the weakest of the rebel groups and had no intention either of accommodating the non-signatory groups or implementing the Doha agreement in a manner to give Darfuris a real voice in their future. Deby was more successful in the next decade in leading the resistance to Islamic terrorist groups in the Sahel, gaining strong French and U.S. support. His troops have been the best trained and most effective in the region in opposing Boko Haram and Al-Qa’id in the Arab Maghreb.
Darfur remains the least stable region of post-Bashir Sudan. The political situation has been generally calm in most of the country. The Transitional Government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the Sovereignty Council led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have operated so far in delicate equilibrium. Violence has expanded, however, in Darfur in the struggle for land and resources between the pastoralist Arabs and the more settled “African” groups. The Janjawit militias, responsible for genocidal killings in 2005 and after, have reorganized as the Rapid Support Forces, whose commander is the Rizeigat Arab General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), now a powerful member of the Sovereignty Council. The transitional government appears paralyzed in dealing with Darfur. Hundreds have died in clashes between Rizeigat and Masalit in Western Darfur State, with thousands again fleeing to the Chad border. Ironically, the leader of the JEM rebel group, Gibril Ibrahim, is now Sudanese Finance Minister, as a result of the 2020 Juba Agreement which brought most of the remaining Darfur rebel groups into the government.
Betty Bigombe Speaks Frankly about Peace in South Sudan
Uganda peacebuilder Betty Bigombe, famous for her earlier dialogue with the Lord’s Resistance Army on behalf of President Museveni, is now Uganda’s Special Representative for South Sudan. She recently spoke with her usual frankness for the Crisis Group’s Podcast on The Horn (4/21/21). She said that the 2018 peace agreement (R/ARCSS) was not an accord that came from the South Sudanese people and is not helping them. She faulted IGAD regional leaders, who do not speak with one voice and for whom South Sudan is “on the back burner.”
State Department Travel Advisories
The US State Department has recently issued new advisories for travel related to the coronavirus pandemic. For Sudan, the guidance is “Reconsider travel.” For South Sudan it is “Do not travel.” We will be taking the evolution of these advisories into account as we plan travel to the region in 2022.
Executive Director
Other News and Notes
A note from the Provincial Secretary of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, John Augustino Lumori
“I and the Archbishop Justin Badi have been on a pastoral mission to the internal provinces and have just returned. While we were there, we had limited access to internet.”
Other News from Various Sources
From the East African, April 7, 2021
UN to reduce peacekeepers in South Sudan
David Shearer, outgoing UN Mission Chief in South Sudan, said recently that the UN plans to reduce troop numbers by seven percent this year, due to a drop in violence in the conflict-torn country and also because of UN troops withdrawing from camps where civilians had sought protection during the country’s six-year civil war, handing control of the sites to Juba. Shearer said however that more troops could be brought in if violence rose again.
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/un-peacekeepers-south-sudan-3352150
From Sudans Post , April 15, 2021
South Sudan has enough weapons to arm unified forces
Ambassador Larry André, Jr. Chargé d’ Affaires U.S Embassy in Juba
speaking at press conference on 15 April 2021 [Photo by Sudans Post]
JUBA – Ambassador Larry André, Jr., the U.S Embassy Chargé d’ Affaires in Juba, responded to claims by the government that the United Nations needed to lift the arms embargo so that they could arm peace forces. He indicated that the county has enough weapons to arm the necessary unified forces provided for in the agreement signed to end the conflict in 2018.
From Various Sources
South Sudan reopens schools after a 1-year closure due to COVID-19
South Sudan’s Vice-President for Service Cluster Hussein Abdelbagi Akol said the national task force had reviewed data on COVID-19 and seen a decline in infections therefor has decided to reopen all schools, Universities, and other higher institutes of learning
Education Minister Awut Deng Acuil said there were recommendations for schools to provide learners and teachers with hand washing facilities, sanitizers, and face masks to keep them safe while at school.
However, schools in flood-affected areas of Jonglei state may not reopen in May, the acting State Director-General of the Ministry of General Education John Guot Dau has said because learning materials and school structures of more than 50 schools were destroyed by last year’s flooding in Jonglei State.
https://www.sudanspost.com/government-reopens-schools-orders-return-to-work/
https://eyeradio.org/jonglei-schools-may-not-reopen-in-may/
https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c302m85q54lt/south-sudan
From Radio Tamazuj April 19, 2021
Returnees in need of aid as they resettle in parts of Central Equatoria State
Support for early livelihood recovery of returnees in South Sudan (UN photo)
Officials in Kajo-Keji and Morobo Counties of Central Equatoria State say thousands of voluntary returnees from neighboring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo need humanitarian assistance as they resettle back home. There are currently over 8,000 voluntary returnees who have resettled in Kajo-Keji, Morobo, and Yei River Counties during the past three months. The returnees need shelter, farm tools, seeds, food, and non-food items to rebuild their livelihoods in the area.
https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/returnees-in-need-of-aid-as-they-resettle-in-parts-of-c-equatoria-state
From Aljazeera April 21, 2021
NGO’s call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation
Food crisis in South Sudan (VOA picture)
In open letter addressed to world leaders, over 250 NGOs call on governments to intervene as inequality coupled with the COVID crisis has led to an acute food crisis. In a joint statement, the aid groups noted that a year on since the UN warned of “famine of biblical proportions”, donors have only funded five percent of this year’s $7.8bn food security appeal.
The statement said that the amount of additional funding called for by the UN’s World Food Program amounts to $5.5bn, which is equivalent to less than 26 hours of the $1.9 trillion that countries spend per year on the military.
“The richest countries are slashing their food aid even as millions of people go hungry; this is an extraordinary political failure,” Oxfam’s executive director, Gabriela Bucher, said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/20/without-urgent-aid-ngos-warn-millions-at-brink-of-famine
From EyeRadio April 22, 2021
How women are struggling to raise families in Juba
By Winnie Eric
Sarah Wosuk who lives in the Jondoru area of Juba City is among many women in Juba struggling to feed their family – credit Angua Harriet Eric
Today in South Sudan, more than half of the population is facing crisis levels of food insecurity, and flooding has wiped out farmers’ harvests as well as basic infrastructure and health facilities. Women in South Sudan are marginalized and struggle in various ways because of the prolonged civil war. Women are often victims of Gender Based Violence (GBV), rape, illiteracy, and high levels of maternal mortality due to absence of good health facilities.
Sarah Wosuk lives at the Jondoru area of Juba City. She is among women in Juba struggling to put food on the table. The mother of eight children told Eye Radio the source of her family’s survival: “I have eight children. I support them through crushing stones.”
Sarah stated that her family takes one meal a day. “We eat once a day because things are not easy on my side; we eat sorghum and local vegetables (Korofo and Lukukuri) – the greens you can easily get and buy in the market,” she said.
https://eyeradio.org/how-women-are-struggling-to-raise-families-in-juba/
From Radio Tamazuj April 24, 20221
Greater Jonglei’s peace is proceeding well: officials
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Daniel Abocha Ali, the spokesperson for the Jonglei Peace Committee, said the implementation of the peace process agreed to during a three-day peace conference by communities of Greater Jonglei—Dinka, Nuer, Murle, and Anyuak is progressing.
“As you can see, the peace is going on well. Abducted children are being recovered, stolen cattle are being retrieved and returned, and trade is ongoing among the communities. Those are the dividends of peace,” he said.
Bol Deng Bol, a prominent activist in Jonglei, said while cyclic violence has largely been muted, the peace deal remains fragile. He urged the government to show support for the peace agreement in Jonglei.
https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/greater-jonglei-s-peace-is-progressing-well-officials
From Associated Press April 27, 2021
UN experts say South Sudan divisions widen, new war possible
By Edith Lederer
In a report to the security council, U.N. experts raised the possibility of renewed war and said nearly 100,000 are facing “famine-like conditions.” They said that the slow pace of reforms by President Salva Kiir’s government and more than a year of political disputes and disagreements over how to implement the February 2020 cease-fire and a 2018 peace agreement have led to frayed relations between Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar. The government has failed to achieve many reforms including completing unification of the army command, graduating a unified force, and reconstituting the Transitional National Legislative Assembly.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT!
We continue to be grateful that contributions from you, our supporters, nurture AFRECS in expanding our impact. You make a difference in the essential peacebuilding work of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. We hope you will consider an additional gift to our ongoing work. You can contribute online at https://afrecs.org or send a check made out to AFRECS to P.O. Box 3327, Alexandria, VA 22302
This issue was compiled by AFRECS Board Member Caroline Klam.